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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

US Health Care Debate

I'm sure it's tempting to go on and on and on about the US health care debate, but really, the less said the better. So, the Democrats (a party nearly as sad and as spineless as the Liberals in Canada) barely managed to get what they consider a reform package thru the Congress where they have a massive majority. A lot more people will be able to access health care, that's about the only good news. The bad news is found all over the place. The skyrocketing share prices of major insurance companies tell you who the real winner of this exercise is: shareholders of insurance companies. There's no public option, so the milking of individual patients by insurance companies will continue. Wow, amazing reform this is! Then there have been those right-wingers (teabag, sandbag and otherwise) that went on and on and on about a government takeover of health care. I only wish there had been a government take-over. Sadly there wasn't. All this silly hand-waving about losing lack of control over one's health care was just mind boggling. I would prefer a government controlled health care system over one controlled by for-profits at any time. Why should control over my access to a given surgical procedure by an employee of a for-profit insurance company give me any more choice than if the same was undertaken by a doctor in a public health care system? Well, what can I say, having lived in countries with public health care (UK, Australia, Canada), government health care is preferable to for-profit health care at any time. It is that simple. It's cheaper and more efficient in terms of bang for your buck. You wouldn't expect US Americans that rely on Fox agitprop to realize that. Well, and Mr Obama, much like the Canadian Liberal's Ignatieff, should probably have gone into academia as opposed to politics. I wouldn't call his last minute scramble a 'fight' (of the political kind) for health care reform. More of a sell-out in terms of progressive politics.